Hi WSO,
I'm a software engineer currently in FAANG that has a deep interest in pivoting to quant as a quant dev. I was mainly targeting famous firms such as Jane Street or HRT. However, I'm not sure where to start to get my foot in the door.
I found resources online for preparation materials which is great, but I can't get past the initial resume screening. My current domain is product focused, and as such, I assume that experience makes it hard to get past resume screening as they are more focused on infra in e.g. C++ or extensive Python experience.
I have 5 YOE in FAANG. What can I do to pivot from SWE to Quant here?
I'm also happy to share my experiences for people curious on how FAANG is.
This is for U.S. based roles. Thank you!
Get into a C++ team. Almost all the QDs at the firms I worked at were either straight out of UG into trading, or worked at FAANG+ in a C++ deep level team.
Thanks for the advice! Do you happen to know what FAANG+ companies work C++, or is it team dependent? I can do further searching on the web myself if you don't have any you recommend to catch the recruiter's and headhunter's eyes.
Most top tech firms will have a C++ team. Build out some projects with it, maybe try lateralling into a C++ team, spend 2 years there, and you've got enough on resume for QD. That said, I am left wondering if this is a grass is greener move, as 5 years in tech means your TC is likely not going to get beat by a trading firm for QD. QT/QR, maybe, but you have nowhere near the background for that, and would 100% need grad school.
Thanks for the suggestion. I see your point. SWE TC has gotten more compressed over the years, so QD would beat out the SWE TC, unless I go into Staff or higher roles. But it is marginally close.
That being said, it was more of an interest for me than purely TC chasing, so I was considering this pivot. Most people probably are scratching their heads at why I would want to work more, so to speak haha
On the comp side, not really. Outside of HFT firms that have infrastructure as a core element, most firms are going to pay basically the same. You'll start out almost at the same level as a new grad, maybe a bit higher, and most people peak out at high 6 figures, which is pretty common in tech too. JSC, HRT, or Jump are probably the only firms that would consistently pay slightly better, and even then not by much. Especially when you consider the WLB and stress of trading are a lot worse. If it's purely out of interest, sure, HFT is likely to be slightly more interesting in terms of the problems you solve, but that's if you prefer really deep C++ and OS tech over scaling and distributed systems.
Curious, what exactly is it that you don't like about being a SWE at FAANG?
As always, this is purely anecdotal and there are both sides to what I say, so take it with a grain of salt.
Some quick bullet points
grass is always greener. I had a friend leave FAANG to join JaneSt. moves across the country, expensive flat, gets fired months in over a discussion of 1 day of PTO by a petty boss. he's back on the west coast at FAANG again. you're just as likely to be fired for no good reason on wall st.
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